Politics Mass protests in Israel against Netanyahu - Overview of the night
In the largest mass protests in Israel for months, tens of thousands of people have demanded an end to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and the release of hostages held in the embattled Gaza Strip. "Alive, alive - and not in body bags", chanted demonstrators in the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv on Saturday evening. According to local media reports, the organizers spoke of around 150,000 participants. It was the largest demonstration in Tel Aviv since the terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas in Israel on October 7 last year. There were also mass protests against Netanyahu's leadership in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba and other places. The people loudly demanded new elections.
23.06.2024, 04:36
SDA
Yuval Diskin, former head of the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, condemned the government at the rally in Tel Aviv and described Netanyahu as "the worst and most failed prime minister in the history of the state", as reported by the "Times of Israel". Diskin accused the government of failed war management, "the lie of 'total victory', total flight from responsibility" and the "destruction of our strategic relations with the United States". Netanyahu's government is missing "every opportunity to repatriate our abducted brothers and sisters".
Israel's defense minister expected in the USA
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the number of abductees still alive could be as low as 50. Officially, there are still around 120 hostages in Gaza. The demonstrators accused Netanyahu of bowing to the demands of his extremist coalition partners and thwarting a deal to release the hostages. Some ministers are against an agreement with the Islamists as it would also include a ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israel's jails.
Meanwhile, Israel's Defense Minister Joav Galant is expected to hold talks with Israel's most important ally, the USA. He wants to meet with senior representatives of the Pentagon and the US State Department in Washington from Sunday to Tuesday, the "Jerusalem Post" reported on Saturday evening. Galant's trip to the US comes after Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu caused a renewed crisis in relations with President Joe Biden's US administration with a video in which he attacked the US government with harsh words over a withheld arms shipment.
Accusations against Israel's police
According to local media reports, there were scuffles with the police during the mass protests against Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening and several people were arrested. The police minister is the far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir. Mounted officers tried to disperse some of the demonstrators with their horses. The police violence during the demonstrations had "crossed all boundaries", raged the new leader of the opposition Labor Party, former Deputy Chief of General Staff Jair Golan, on Platform X. The police must not become "a tool in the hands of the corrupt and failed government", he wrote.
Protesters commemorate 20th birthday of abducted soldier
Golan has been considered a hero in the country since the Hamas massacre on October 7. He had gone into the danger zone on his own initiative and helped many civilians there to flee from a festival that the terrorists were attacking. The terrorist attack triggered the war. At the rally in Tel Aviv, many people commemorated the birthday of a kidnapped female soldier who turned 20 years old while being held hostage on Saturday. Many displayed posters with the face of the Israeli woman. Her parents gave a speech demanding her release. Footage taken by the organizers showed the mother crying during the protest in Tel Aviv.
On the day of her abduction from a military base, Hamas had distributed footage showing the young Israeli woman with her hands tied and her trousers covered in blood. Around a month ago, a video was also published showing her and four other female soldiers frightened, injured and partly covered in blood during the abduction. The women were working as army scouts in the border area with the Gaza Strip.
For months, mediators from the USA, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to persuade Israel to agree to a ceasefire and Hamas to release the abductees in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails - so far without success. Netanyahu accuses Hamas of taking an intransigent stance and holds it responsible for the stagnation in the indirect negotiations. Hamas, on the other hand, sees Israel as having a duty. The Islamists' main demands are an immediate ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip.
USA withdraws aircraft carrier "Eisenhower" from the Red Sea
After several months of deployment in response to the Hamas attack against Israel, the USA has withdrawn the aircraft carrier "Dwight D. Eisenhower" from the Red Sea. The ship and its convoy are on their way back to the USA, the Centcom regional command announced on Saturday. The "Eisenhower" will be replaced by the aircraft carrier "Theodore Roosevelt" and its convoy, which is reportedly still in the Indo-Pacific and is due to arrive in the region next week.
The deployment is part of the multinational security initiative "Operation Prosperity Guardian". It is intended to ensure security and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. One of the most important shipping routes for world trade runs through this area. In recent months, the Houthi militia in Yemen has repeatedly attacked civilian cargo ships there. According to its own statements, the militia is acting in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.
